The Transportation Security Administration has decided to “temporarily delay a controversial rule that would again permit passengers to carry small knives on commercial flights.” There goes my corkscrew.

In the Wall Street Journal, Jay McInerney profiles Robert Bohr and David Beckwith of Grand Cru Wine Consulting, “a kind of concierge service for well-heeled wine aficionados.”

Alfonso Cevola wonders why “Parker and his new crew snubbed Vinitaly this year.” His best guess? “Perhaps the re-org over at TWA is more important than ¼ of the wine producers on Planet Earth in one place.”

Alice Feiring pays respect to Pedro López de Heredia, who passed away over the weekend.

In 2012, according to Robert Parker, Pomerol “unquestionably” produced the best wines, with quality “not far off the blockbuster years of 2009 and 2010.”

Steven Spurrier agrees, writing “The winners were the dry whites (especially in Pessac-Léognan but all over the region), the Right Bank with its high Merlot content, Pessac-Leognan, and those Médoc châteaux with money to sacrifice quantity for quality.

“It’s a beautiful thing that New World California winemakers are increasingly embracing Old World white-wine grapes, and giving them their own stylistic spins.” Linda Murphy applauds California’s willingness to make white wines from so many different varieties.

“Uruguay and Tannat really is the perfect mix of terroir — windy, humid, oceanic, cool for South America — and grape.” So declares W. Blake Gray.